Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - Sri Lankan Tea

Video Subtitles:

Hi seriously, Where are you and
what is your name? so that way

I can address you properly.
when I wanna say hi to you

instead of calling you
seriously. That's a good name,

but hi Teri good to see you My
Dog today. I don't know if that

has the tongue the tongue
option. I'll keep that hi

Internet. Hi everybody. happy
Wednesday, May thirteenth

today. I'm going to be drinking
and talking about Sri Lankan

tea and the reason why I chose
this topic today is because I

read an article this morning
about the success of the very

first online auction. Hi
Jillian. Julian in Los Angeles.

It's very nice to meet you. I'm
Elise in Las Vegas, not too far

from you. yeah. So this is a
big deal an online auction. you

know, it's not something that
we really deal with too much

here at Tet since we do like
artisanal Small-batch Tess that

are all purchased directly from
the farmer. We don't go to the

auctions. The auctions really
are limited to more of the

commodity. A- two neighbors I
like that we are teenager the

auctions are really targeted
more towards the commodity

markets in the commodity
products, which we don't deal

with, but they are very
important part of the industry

because some of the growers
that we do work with have

hybrid operations where maybe
20 percent of their production

is handmade artisanal like what
we focus on and then the rest

of the. is going towards the
commodity markets so that maybe

making CTC or bulk grade
Orthodox Tess which you know

are sold in the auction and
then would be used in tea bags

or tea blends as we would see
usually in the grocery store

but the market the the auction
it happens. in India, it

happens even in a tea producing
countries in Africa as well as

in Sri Lanka and this is a
centralized place where people

come together and be on their
teeth. They taste the teas and

then they bid on the teas and
these are not typically buyers

like when we think of buyers
even when you think of someone

like Tet an importer that you
would work with on getting your

Tess. Wholesale even those
folks are not in this auction.

These options are closed out to
brokers and to a larger

distributors that are buying
you know directly in this

auction and it's a very social
dynamic. It's a big building

and everybody comes together
they've already tasted the

teas. usually the samples for
the different lots that are

gonna go out on auction have
already gone out and the.

Brokers tend to already know
like what they're gonna be

interested in buying. And
there's also a lot of know

about this tea auctions too.
They're pretty close to

networks. you have to have a
particular license or

invitation to be welcomed to
the these auctions so that you

can participate so even if I
wanted to go let's say I wanted

to go purchase some tea. Some
some bure Tess I wouldn't be

able to because I would need a
special license. I could

perhaps work with a. Who you
know could help me get in so

yeah, these are close networks
and a lot of you know unknowns

going on within within the
events. so the fact that it's

going online is very unique and
you know there's been SD

chatter about this happening
for years actually throughout

the different auctions in
India. they've been talking

about bringing it online,
bringing more efficiency more

transparency as they call to
how. Training of tea happens

but now out of necessity
because of the lock downs and

because of the safety of
bringing people together in an

enclosed space like that
they're having to be brought

online. And so yeah this
article I saw was actually

published by Microsoft and it's
because of Microsoft software,

You know a division of their
software company. Developed the

tool that was used which they
have at this point. I have just

called it MVP MVP is the
minimum viable product, so this

is not the final product, but
something was developed and

something was used in the
beginning of April. that's They

claimed success of being able
to auction off lots of tea. I

wasn't able to find any
articles on the exact success

like the. And the amount of
bitters and the amount of you

know people involved or the
amount of bids involves and how

those numbers compared to the
typical offline that usually

happen but. Yeah, it's really
interesting to see to see all

that happen. so the Sri Lanka
auction happens in Columbo,

which is the capital of the
country and it has been

happening for A hundred and 20
- six years and from everything

that I've read up to it so far
and you know, I'm not claiming

to be the most researched in
it, but everything that I have

read so far has said That this.
It hasn't changed much and that

hundred and 26 years so leave
it to a virus to force some

change to this auction so
quickly but here in this

article, it says that 16000
tons of tea were sold in three

auctions between April fourth
and the nineteenth last month

and Let's see if there's any
other numbers in here. Other

than the 16000 tons, which is a
lot of tea within three

different options. Yeah so far,
it's not saying how many

bitters were there and how many
bids were made or even the

prices that the Tess sold out.
So Sri Lanka produces 300000

times so this auction was just
16000 tons of the 300000 tons,

which is a pretty good amount

Yeah. so this article does not
get any

numbers as far as oh here we go
okay so they have registered

300 buyers and eight 83 08 T
brokers for its first auction

on April fourth. That's a
pretty good success rate 300

buyers, but I guess you know
when you don't have any other

option to do your business. you
are kind of forced to adopt

technology and and and jump on
board. so that's pretty

impressive that they got 300
buyers in their first launch in

the. Microsoft article that I
read it said that they

developed the software in a
matter of five days, so this is

all very spontaneous as it is
everything that's happening

right now, even with us and the
virtual tea festival and even

you know our team and it's
people website those are all

things were tell within like a
five day period. so you know

we're in a time of urgency
right now that when you know an

idea comes across it comes. You
kind of have to act fast to

make it happen so I mean by
having a company like Microsoft

partnering up with you know
will ensure quite a bit more

success If you Hi Allison good
see you So, yeah, good news.

Good news from the the industry
fronts. you know we're we're

making strides and how things
are done. what are the

implications of this of
bringing the auction online?

Yes, there is a higher
potential of more

accountability, more
transparency and more

information sharing throughout
the market of the offline

auctions have been. Rumored I
guess it's the right word to

having a collusion and to
having you know kind of price

fixing going on which you know
is not good for the industry

and can create a lot of
hardship and stress for the

producers, which at the end of
the day does end up affecting

us because it affects their
ability to produce in their

ability to continue to produce
teeth. so, yeah, it's it's good

news that things are being
brought online. there's nothing

in here talking about a
blockchain which actually you

know. I'm always talking about
how blockchain is not always

the most optimal solution for
supply chain issues in the in

the industry. because there's
you know some greater more

costly problems that we have to
fix before you know we can just

put all the information on the
blockchain and that block

chains. Really best suited for
problems that involve trust

transaction trust based
transactions so And these

auctions, this is a trust-based
transaction because your oh

there is the ice cream truck
again so like yesterday, same

time the the buyer or the
broker that is agreeing you

know to pay for that a lot of
tea at a certain price. you

know it's a trust-based
transaction just like a money

transaction. you know. The
identity of the tea alone is

not a trust based transaction,
and that's you know what people

when they're always so
optimistic about blockchain as

a solution for supply chain
food supply chain issues, you

know there there's solely
putting in all of the value of

blockchain on the identity and
the the the authentic

authenticity authenticity of
the the product and that the

blockchain is somehow gonna
magically. you know, hold that

information. It'll hold the
information, but whether or not

the information is true or not,
it's still up in question. So

here you know it's kind of
interesting, you know like an

auction and you know speaking
of when you first launched our

wholesale portion of the
business years and years ago,

we first launched with an
auction with the same concept

of yet is sold in auctions and
you know maybe. Don't know the

value of this tea, so let's let
the market let's set up in the

market an auction so that the
market can establish the value

on this product. Our main issue
is how we launched an auction

with no followers with no sign
ups, So you know like that

number. I said that this this
auction Sri Lanka had 300

buyers in the network. you know
all interacting with each other

and pretty bids on these Tess
you're gonna have a much more

success than when you have just
a few buyers. they may be

valuing the tea, but there's no
competition to dry. The price

up to where it needs to be so
yeah, I think when we first

launched our auctions we had
you know maybe five buyers that

were interested one of them
being Eric Glass You-know-who,

who steals a good friend of
ours and connects in these

these live sessions often when
he had his his tea business. he

he was on there and made some
bids on some tea and actually

-A lot of tea a lot that was.
When we're working on that

project we we had so many jokes
a lot of lots how many lots of

lots or you know just cuz the
word a lot is kind of funny,

but it's such a common word
that we use a lot. I don't know

but in the context of like an
auction or you know you

designate a certain amount of
tea that's going to be going up

on auction as a lot. So it's a
lot a lot But yeah, we didn't

have great success of driving
the prices up to where they

they needed to be and so we
kind of abandoned that project.

it's still there actually to it
does have auction software,

which if we wanted to submit a
lot and put it out there for

people to auction on, we could
do that but we found that in

the specialty world, the value
of the teas is pretty well

known throughout the markets
and that you know. We can just

keep the prices there for
people to see and interact with

versus constantly trying to
realize a new price through

these options. so good on the
board of Sri Lanka for

successfully executing their
first online auction and you

know wish them the best of luck
with all their future auctions

and hope that it brings more
accountability more

transparency more information
sharing among the industries so

that we can start to solve a
lot of the problems that we're

often talk. About in specialty
so specialty from Sri Lanka

exists, it's it's not very
abundance and we do work with

one producer specifically a.m.
Estates our friend Beverly

Wainright, who now is in
Scotland developing an industry

there a small scale or artisan
industry. she was on

assignments at Mba TSA and did
a great amount of work of

Developing a new T processing
ways as well as quality control

systems. it's pretty deep and
I'm actually gonna show a clip

from a video that was
broadcasted through the newly

formed I'm gonna get the name
correct the newly formed sayan

artisan Artisanal Tea
Association, which you know was

first

Bye. By the folks at state, but
now is a collection of

different specialty tea
producers and Sri Lanka. So if

you're interested in specialty
from Sri Lanka, I recommend

that you check out Facebook is
where they're most active. so

you can see their Facebook page
and that is the sale on

artisanal tea. just look that
up, but it's the artisanal tea

Association and they've been
doing some live videos.

Unfortunately, they're pretty
tricky times you know cuz at

the time difference they're
doing their video. At like

Five AM Pacific time on
Wednesday morning, so a little

bit difficult for me to check
it out. but you know, perhaps

in your time zone that might
work and they're doing those

videos every week just
featuring a different artisanal

tea producer. So today, I'm
gonna talk about a state and

specifically one of their teas
that they make very clever

interesting tea that is really
popular within our network

called vani Petco and this tea.
It means stolen tea and it's

just kind of a cheeky cheeky
name of pain respect to kind of

the the history of tea labor,
Sri Lanka you know it was known

that workers would steal tea so
the stolen tea they would take

it home and process it and very
crude ways in their home using

a pistol and more. And so this,
this, of course is a higher

quality version of that made in
you know good quality control

parameters That's it's kind of
like that too. So I'll show you

before. I start brewing it. you
can see the dry leaf. I don't

want it to spill. you can see
it there. You see. it's pretty

broken up. This is not like a C
grade or even like a dusting

grade. It was intentionally
masticate. Using the the pestle

and mortar just like the stolen
tea that the the labors would

have made in their own homes a
estate is interesting and the

main thing I think that you
know outside of developing the

new processing styles for
Beverly when she was, there was

the systems that she developed
and she's now been gone for me

and now I'm you know developing
new industries and new places

for years and those systems.
Stay in place and still keep

their quality high and you know
the products coming out really

in the fine great like this and
that is all about the

empowerment of the workers.
there's a lot of training that

goes involved and not just
training of specific tasks

within the state and the
factory but that each worker

kind of gets rotated around to
each position so in doing that

they are able to develop a
perspective. Just like

yesterday's conversation,
around truth and around, you

know staying staying strong on
a path of truth. when all of

your workers have this
increased perspective to

together you're gonna have you
know really high success rate

of of staying on the right path
and then also having empathy

for one another so often times
in a work environment, a lot of

the bottlenecks that get formed
and this is something that I

have learned in my MBA. Was
that when things are Silo and

you have everybody doing their
own tasks and they are either

rewarded or penalized for not
doing their specific task

right, it is very easy for them
to

Make mistakes and not take
accountability for making

mistakes and seeing it that
understanding that that mistake

could affect somebody else's
process later on in the line so

in tea how that applies a
really good example of that,

there's many more. but one
example, that's very easy to

wrap your head around is that

Tea plo that only pluck tea and
it's only incentivize to bring

kilos in to get paid for how
much they will not pay as close

attention to their plucking
standard because they're just

trying to get quantity, they're
just trying to pluck as much as

they can that they will pluck
like mature leaves or the pluck

leaves that don't go well and
the process well so then later

on in the process, the people
and the factory have to work

extra hard to you know sort.
Things out because they don't

roll right. they don't process
right and so at ambi what

they've learned is that when
those clucks or you know,

there's not really specific
clucked cuz everybody kind of

rotates it does everything But
when someone is plucking, There

are a lot more mindful of
plucking the right plucking

standard because they empathize
with the people in the factory.

they've been there before
they've been in their shoes

before they know what it's
like, they know how much work

it is to sort it out. Actively
versus proactively doing a

better job in plucking, so all
of these factors really play a

big part in why their tea is so
high in quality. So my wears a

pretty much cooled by now. so
I'll I'll go ahead and put some

new hot water into the Prime
everything. Get it ready.

So, yeah, this is like kind of
the same concept of CTC where

you you break up the leaves to
optimize the oxidation of the

leaf to make a black tea and
then it's dried.

So you're after I see this and
have my first drink. I'm gonna

go ahead and play. Video from
you know a clip from the live

stream that I had done from.
They did it from their factory.

Where they kind of gave a
presentation on their operation

and their farm as well as.
Introduce the different to use

and the tass of the different
teas that they are making and

selling. So, Amber is so small
scale like they're actually one

of the more smaller scale
operations that we work with in

our entire catalog when they
produce tea, they're you know

at a producing seem like 12
kilos at a time. so they're not

going to these options to sell
their product. They have you

know a very exclusive list of
buyers many you know within our

network but also many buyers in
Europe and I think that's been

a big push in their marketing
and has been the European

market of course with Beverly.
There she is from Europe so You

know it's kind of second nature
to to reach out to that market

First. so we are we here at Tet
are doing a lot of work and

helping expose their name and
their teas into the American

market, but one common thing
that people say about artisanal

teas from Sri Lanka is that
they're very costly and I would

agree with them on that. you
know not all of them have

prices that match the level of
quality in the tea. I think

Amber. The most fair price oh,
look at that beautiful color.

It's the most fair price of all
of the artisanal Tess that I've

sampled and tried from she laga
our new friend from forest

forced Hilde Buda that we've
made here on Instagram. he's

newer in the game and he's
applied to work with us. I

don't know you know the pricing
on his stuff and how didn't

see. We have to wait until
after this whole pandemic

passes so that we can actually
get some samples of his teeth

and see what he's been working
on, but some of the other teas

that we've come across a lot of
silver needles, a lot of like

fancy Longs they're priced very
high even higher than like

Chinese tea use of similar
processing style the quals

nothing near I. To say that the
quality is bad and my opinion

on it and the feedback that
I've given everybody that we've

worked with on this particular
issue is that maybe they're not

matching the right processing
to the T quite yet. you know

one of them had really fancy
packaging. You could tell that

they had a vest a lot in their
packaging and in their efforts

of creating this premium
product, but they were

replicating or attempting to
replicate famous Tess from. So

the one that I just remember so
vividly was a dragon Well long

and I had opened the the box of
the sample and try it, and it

was nothing like Longview. It
was interesting. It was quite

interesting actually but it was
nothing like long and I think

that it's an immediate shooting
in your foot if you kind of

tagg yourself in a corner like
that by saying this is this is

longing cuz it creates a
context for the buyer to

compare your tea with and then
additionally. I was very high I

found the price to be way
higher than the level of the

quality of the tea. you know
three times higher four times

higher which you know in our
market doesn't work I've

learned in my years of working
with A-, two shop owners and

businesses that you can't price
a T high just out of novelty.

there's been very few cases
where that actually works but

at scale that doesn't work the.
In the Cup really does have to

show through and stand on its
own.

Very rich aroma Nice, So it's
always a surprise you know when

I introduced this to people
even when I drink it myself.

I'm always surprised at how
smooth it is considering how

broken the leaf is. It's kind
of the policy and in Chinese

tea craft that the more broken
the leaf is the more tannic

it'll be the more harsh it'll
be the less it will be but then

you get a tea like this and you
see exactly how sweets and You

know how nice look how clean
that Lior is for how broken the

leaf was, and I didn't even use
a filter in the canteen this

tea. so you know it really says
a lot about the the quality and

you know the integrity of this
tea and it's processing very

nice teeth.

we have several clients that we
use this tea and blending so

this would be like a base tee
for blending and it also ice as

well and cold brews well and
blends well. the price point is

a little bit higher than what's
a tea blends are used to or

accustomed to pains for a tea
blend. so it's definitely more

of a premium but yeah. So I'm
gonna go ahead and play this

video for you guys. so you can
see what I'm talking about.

And let the people from from
the explain it themselves.

Let's see we're now perfect.

So just briefly about most of
you on the phone, no and no

products quite well so I want
to take too long, but for the

benefit of someone who don't
necessarily know us just wanted

to give you a brief
introduction. and as I say what

Natasha is gonna focus on today
is some of our newer and less

alone. that's most of you may
well. Yes. most of you will not

know about and I hope maybe you
have interest to some of in

terms of. It's climate and soil
it's located in the region of

Sri Lanka on the Southeast edge
of the Highlands and it is very

classic Uber although it is
really hot outside at the

moment, we this area of the
Highlands tends to get less

rain than the Central islands
in the Western Highlands. We

have a heavy monsoons in March,
April and October November, but

it can be very dry the rest of
the year. as a result, we have

quite dryly soil well well
known for what's called the

Uber. And that which is a kind
of high plateau open grassland

and our teas as a result have
quite distinctive flavors

particularly famous for a
silicon in the soil that

imparts a winsor Green
undertone the teas and it's

traditionally Associated with
the tea, but in general because

of the relatively dry and
difficult climate Uber teas

probably have a a fairly
intense flavor any plumps and.

Give and give all that flavor
right. The right here on my

screen as I say some photos of
them and the views around them,

but you can see to be dry
climates around Bamba. I'm

itself was the four of us who
founded or what the economic

and social development around
the world and we're really

created the Organization as a
social enterprise. Our

objective is to maximize local
incomes and local employment.

Showing local farmers and local
villages how they can add much

more value, creating value
added artisanal products from

the agricultural around them
and authentic tourism

experiences and that's why we
exist. We measure every month

to what extent we are impacting
the community. we look at this

chart here shows how average
wages and Amber have over the

last 10 plus years almost More
than tenfold over that period,

we also look at what is the
total amount we are spending

within the local community
between wages and contractors

and outgrows and construction
workers, and so on you've seen

that number grow from what much
less than a million a year to

all those 40 million this year
last year, so that's that's why

we're here and how we measure
ourselves. Amber is organic we

use. Artificial chemicals
around the state. One of our

principles is trying to restore
the National environment here.

we look forward to there is
actually our first batch of

rescue House our cows were
rescued from their avatar and

they've produced when you're
and urine that we use for our

natural compost around the
state and as I say, the estate

itself we use actually no
artificial chemicals Nata will

tell you more as we talk about
the the Tess in a few minutes,

but for a handmade Tess
probably one of the most

distinctive things about Amber
that we use only one leaf and

above at the big commercial
estates two weeks in about that

would be considered very finely
in our case when Beverley our

original team maker first
started experimenting that she

found that even the second week
was two course in to roll by

hand. so we use for our classic
T GOP to be orange Pico and

also with the Green the one
leaf and about and as you all

know with the higher costs. Of
the polyphenols and the

antioxidants and so on in the
younger leaves that's part of

the reason why that is is
supposed to face of the as I

said, I think what we're most
famous for as well is the fact

that all of our signatures are
produced by hand in case of A T

G O P the orange Pico and they
are rolled by hand half the at

a time by the same ladies who
do the pack a greenhouse. With

the Green tea, which many of
you again harrys and sell

around the world, it's rolle by
hand and walk somewhat Maia, it

is common in parts of China and
then there's also a famous vg

pito, which many of you also
sell around the world. what we

also call our legal team or our
thieves tea. the Bandar Petco

is that when we started Beverly
asks the ladies well, How do

you make tea at home? you're
surrounded by. We must take it

home and make tea traditionally
the team lockers and the

families would make by pounding
it in the bang the pss water we

started making tea that way it
is actually technically illegal

to make tea that way on the
days when only the tea was made

on the biggest mistakes it was
on the biggest mistake. If

you're making it at home,
You're stealing the leaves.

That's why we call it our legal
team or our thieves tea, and it

makes a brisk more like an.
Breakfast we also make several

toan most famously lemon grass
Citronella a relative of lemon

grass grows wild on the
hillsides around us and that's

why we started farming Goss and
one of the to make sure you

guys have the chance to see
that lemon grass has a stronger

color flavors smell than any
lemon grass anybody's ever come

across and again. That is the
that was a nice introduction to

the state. from a. Simon Bell,
who is the managing operator

there that we work with so
yeah, very exciting stuff from

Sri Lanka not very common to
see this. what is common to see

are very picturesque landscapes
of you know the the rolling

beautiful tea Hills throughout
landscape and the romantic

countryside. That you can take
and see teeth large tea fields.

Which are all you know, owned
by the largest States, either

they're owned by the largest
state and going towards

commodity production or they're
they're not in production to be

honest. there's you know a lot
of tea around the world. that's

you know it's just become so
difficult for for producers to

stay in business and to remain
competitive that. they just

leave a bee and let it go wild
and that's where organizations

like let's say the man that was
sitting there with Simon. That

presentation is like the
manager of the the garden and

of the factory and he's local
and he's learning a lot. You

know in his time of working on
and making these teas and

learning the business and
learning management. you know

people like him will be able to
go on. And create other systems

throughout the country with
these abandoned tea gardens. So

you know that's a lot of the
work that we do is empowering

those folks to say, don't give
up the work you're doing is

incredible. The market may not
be fully appreciated it just

yet, but in time they will and
when they do, you can take that

skill and empower other
communities that are struggling

when I went to the. North
America T Conference in 2014

end of 2014 in Niagara Falls.
there was a presentation there

from an NGO that had done some
you know economic research

into.

The sustainability of the tea
industry and they had used Sri

Lanka's like the key market for
their research and found that

this was back in 2014. So I'd
imagine things are much

different now. as you know the
market price really hasn't

risen and the cost of
production does always that is

what they guarantee your cost
of production and inflation are

always gonna continue to go up,
but at that time the average

profit for a producer of tea
was negative 20. Tequila so,

that means it's not a profit.
It means a loss so for every

kilo that's produced and then
sent into the market sent to

those auctions that I talked
about at the beginning of the

screen. they lose 20 -
five cents so any smart

business person would see that
that's a dead thing and not

worth to pursue and one thing
unique about Sri industry that

is you know I just. So
surprised that this happens is

that there is a law that
protects the price that a

factory pays to trower for the
Green Leaf. So this is not like

the estates the estates that
all on their own gardens on

their own bushes and higher
staff that would go out and do

all of the management and the
harvesting and then that gets

processed in the factory.
there's something else called

Bartley factory system and a
lot of times the States are

about the factor in addition to
processing their own. In the

butt will buy Green Leaf
harvested fresh leaf from small

growers so either small growers
like local people, we'll plant

the tea themselves and pursue
of selling leaf to leaf factory

or it'll be like abandoned Tea
Gardens from you know the

colonial state system that has
been you know reassigned to the

local people and so you know
local people become to. Tea

growers but they don't have
factories so they will sell

their leaf to the factories and
so that's actually where a lot

of the exploitation of the
corruption is coming in and

there's zero accountability
about how these factories are

interacting with the small
growers in some places in

India, I've I've been to I've
learned that the small growers

are paid like 12 cents a kilo
for their leaf in Nepal. Last

time, I went it was a very big
problem. Everybody was

bickering about it and by
everybody's a local people that

that I'm staying with it.
They're all small growers that

you know, sell their leaf to
big factories and they were all

bickering that the big
factories haven't even paid

them for months. So not only
are they getting paid a low

weight or not. It's not a way.
It's a price. you know they're

selling their relief and not
only are they paid a low price,

but they're not paid at all. so
it's like. If you buy a product

to a retail store and that
retail stores still need your

product in order to sell it.
but then they don't pay you for

it. you know and and in our
business culture, we wouldn't

let that fly, but in places
where people have no other

option, those things happen all
the time and they never get

accounted for fair trade
doesn't account for it. you

know even a journalist or not
accounting for this and talking

on this subject because. It is
so you want and it's so complex

and there's all these different
parts but Sri Lanka. It's very

unique because they have a rule
that says that factories must

pay the small trower that's
selling them the leaf at least

36 percent of the Mays value.
So like let's say, for example,

the teas the maid Tess. that's
the finish tea when it goes to

auction or whatever the made
tea has a. A value of $4 a kilo

then the The small grower would
need to be paid a dollar 40 -

four a kilo for the Green leaf,
and then the factory can take

the rest as there. it's not a
profit right. It's still you

know, it's still just their
income their revenue from the

tea, but at least it guarantees
that the small tea growers is

getting paid for all of the
work and effort that they put

in to actually producing the
raw materials that goes into

the processing in India, it's a
completely different animal

like I said I've seen places.
Where you know they say, Oh,

yeah, we only get paid 12
tequila. It takes me about

three hours to harvest a kilo
of Green leaf. I know I'm slow

and I'm not advanced at it and
so I'm sure with experience you

could definitely you know lower
that time, maybe even do like a

kilo an hour if you're really
good, but if you're only making

12 cents for that culo, that's
like pretty much like 12 cents

an hour for a very late. Hard
work so. Even a dollar 40 -

four culo is low in my opinion
so that's why I feel a lot more

confident you know not relying
on the fair trade system, not

relying in this, you know
National level laws that are

protecting the small growers
like this, I wanna rely on

doing business directly with
the families and the people

that are doing all of that
work. So you know encouraging

as much vertical as possible
and value add as

possible from the.

that that you can be assured
when you're buying that

product, not only are you
valuing what's in the Cup and

the final product, so I value
it. This is how much I value

it. That's the first step that
we had to work on the next step

is then ensuring that all of
the people in that value chain

and leading up to this Cup or
getting you know a fair

representation in a fair
Exchange of value for all of

that work that they've done.

Bye.

So, yeah, I've turned the link
on if anybody wants to join and

have tea with me and maybe talk
about Shula Andie. You can talk

about some and tea that you
like or stay long as we can see

it is. Really, like the
marketing term.

Not too sure I'm I'm gonna look
that up right now. so I. Let us

all be correct in our No. The
of Words' Salem.

I mean, yeah, it's it's like
that. so I always thought it

was a word like so formal is
kind of like a marketing term

for Taiwan. similar say it it
was it's a colonizing word. so

you know it it was assigned to
the island of Sri Lanka when

the British colonized so it
does have colonial to it. so

depending on your. Prerogative
and your perspective of how you

like to handle these types of
things if you do like to shy

away from colonial rooted
addresses or intentions you

maybe you wouldn't wanna use
this word.

Occupied by the Portuguese, the
sixteenth century by the Dutch

in the seventeenth century of
the island was seated to the

British in 1990, - six became a
crown colony in 1802 and was

United under virtual in 1815
Atan It became independent in

1940 - eight. It's name was
changed to Sri Lanka in. So

there's an education right
there.

So yeah before it was sayan,
I'd like to know that.

Settlers arrived in Sri Lanka
and late sixth century BC.

Probably from northern India
that's interesting and I always

thought that you know it was
just kind of a direct. It's so

close. I know that there's like
folklore. there's a very famous

legend and actually my favorite
Hindi legend involves Sri Lanka

Homan

I know that it's you know, it's
been a part of the.

But this is fifth century BC,
so this is a long time ago, The

leaves from North India went
there and then in 14 centuries

South India Dynasty power Okay.
So that's when the South Indian

and but then the Portuguese
seized in sixteenth century, so

that was pretty short-lived and
now it's not where it's at now

so little Sri Lanka history
there or anybody that's ever

been interested in that. it's
so funny, how like we can go

without ever. Studying these
things I guess if you're really

studio person, you would just
proactively do that yourself.

But even if you're a studio is
person, it can be kind of

intimidating to think about all
the things that you'd have to

take on to to fully understand
things like that. But that's

the beauty of the Internet with
that to me less than two

minutes to read that. I'm gonna
forget it. I'd have to read

re-read it. You know the next
time I'm interested in knowing

it.

We have this, he's very good.
It's the second. Very brisk, it

is very brisk and also it's
energy. It's actually quite,

but I needed that I had I had a
big, you know Bowl of Brown

rice with spinach before I
started this So I was feeling

like a little. it's healthy. It
was it was something good to

eat, but it was a lot of food.
So you know I was feeling a

little a little sluggish after
eating that Bowl. So this this

tea is definitely helping bring
back my. Levels.

People say that too like
between and like a tea, that's

it can be quite that brisk is
also Associated with some kind

of whyy buzz to it especially
when the tea is so broken right

cuz when you break the leaf and
it's processing is releasing a

lot of the tannins and

And then also in it's brewing
too. so when you brew because

it has so much surface area,
there's gonna be so much more

release not only the flavor,
but also the caffeine and and

the the the and all the other
things that you know affects

your physiological state when
you drink it. That's why I'm

I'm kinda carefully. I didn't
put so much leave.

This tea does get better if you
over it and I have done that

before so I have that
experience.

Don't see it. It is pretty even
consistent color throughout

though.

You can tell it's not. As
oxidized as it could have been

so they definitely you know,
put this into the dryer to

finish the processing before
you know it was completely

oxidized. Still has a little
reddish color to it, Reddish

greenish color to it. I'm like
CTC, so like CTC is completely

black. You know the pellets
inside of the tea bags. It's

completely black. fully
oxidized. And yeah, it wouldn't

brew into something so
translucent and beautiful like

this. so you could see you can
see through it right. But then

it still has like a really
vibrant sheen to it. Good

teeth. This tea is available on
tea and it's people dot com. So

if you're interested in trying
this tea and tasting for

yourself and learning for
yourself experiencing for

yourself how you can visit that
website. and we just put that

up. It's a good idea.

And if you haven't visited our
new community website, I

recommend that you go. check
that out. It's a lot of fun.

There's a lot of good content
and actually all of our live

videos are live or you know
they're they're up We have the

15 Gramm tenn one ounce bag or
500 gram bag available on the

site so now, even our bulk teas
are available to everybody to

consumers or to anybody. So I'm
just putting the link here on

all of the Internet platforms
for Instagram. if you just go,

visit tea and it's people dot
com and then search for the

vet. Paco you be able to find
it. Hi Anna. See you. I hope

you're doing well in Boston. Be
nice to catch up. Maybe I'll

give you a call tomorrow. Try
to get one last step out of

this tea before I sign out.

We I was thinking maybe I put
that on so maybe I'll put it on

so I should do that.

Yeah, all of these videos,
these are virtual tea party

videos are on this website and
it's people and then if you

just go to the menu at the top
of the page, the last selection

there's virtual tea party tea
education. If you click that

link it will take you where you
can see all of the you'll go

ahead and just so here's the
website.

Now, we get out of here so this
is this is the home screen here

you can scroll through and see
everything but if you make a

smaller sweets for you.

if you go to this menu bar here
on the top left and then the

last section here virtual Tea
Party. Every video is here with

a small blurb about what that
day's video is about so you can

kind of see what you are
interested in learning about

that day. yeah, we have over 50
videos live now. so it's a lot.

Speaking of I depending on what
happens I'm allowing myself to

take a break tomorrow and
Friday from broadcasting the

stream I I I believe I will be
involved in tomorrow's tea

talks with Sam and folks so
we're gonna be talking about

last week's of virtual Tea Fest
and virtual tea House

experience and trying to get
some feedback and see how we

can improve that. Next time we
want to do it so that will be

happy tomorrow, but I'm just
not too sure I'm gonna

broadcast that or if I'm gonna
do a stream on Friday, we'll

just have to see how everything
ends up. how I'm feeling my

emotional state has been very
radically and not getting no

need to worry about me. I'm
fine. as with everybody I think

the the fatigue and all of that
is really. starting to hit it

hard and just confusion
confusion, you know I I'm I'm

I'm feeling pretty secure in my
well-being and my health and my

food and my rest and my
exercise so that's why I say

you know no need to worry about
me but just a lot of

uncertainty about community and
about the people around me and

everybody else's. Yeah, I know
I don't need to be worrying

about that, but I know
everybody is having some level

of worry in their head. So I
think it's it's completely

appropriate and I'm not giving
myself a hard time for dealing

with those types of emotions,
but I am creating my own

boundaries for that and you
know if that's something that

you are also dealing with I'd
like to encourage you to also

think about what boundaries you
need for yourself to thrive

and.

Hi seeking neon buddah. I like
that what is Neon Buddha sounds

very intriguing. Did you find
me on Buddha or are you still

seeking? I'd imagine that you
change your Instagram handle if

you weren't seeking anymore if
you found them.

So funny on Instagram, when you
see someone's handle like that,

it could be a friend. It could
be someone I know, but I don't

as of right here. Reading your
name. I don't think I know you.

And my time is almost up on
Instagram. I'm always been on

for an hour or so I think I'm
gonna go get some work done and

again go check out T and it's
people. Smiles back at you Tina

People dot com If you wanna
check out this tea and it was

the Gatto Pele betti Pele from
Amboy State. Bye. alright,

folks. Yeah. I'm gonna sign out
across the Internet as well. I

hope you have a beautiful rest
of your week and I'll see you

soon much. love peace. Bye.